Coming of the Cores
by Hyper Hamster Hippie
Summary: Cloud battles his inner demons, and other things...
1. Death

Death

I am an avid fan of both the Armored Core and Final Fantasy games. The FFX crew obviously aren't my creations, but all the AC designs and other people are. If you have a problem with me or any of my characters, by all means write a scorching review revealing all shortcomings in gruesome detail. Get carried away people.

Tidus leapt from the boat, slamming into the broken earth and rolling to his feat. Lulu, Auron, and Wakka followed more gracefully. Death surrounded them. All life in Kilika had been eradicated.

"Whoa. I dun think this was fiends, ya?" said Wakka.

"No," said Auron, kneeling down to study the ground. "Machina."

Everyone turned to look at Rikku.

"Hey, it's nothing I know, k?" she squeaked.

"Hiya, guys, we got a survivor." called Tidus from a burned out hut farther down the waterfront. When they had dragged the man out, they could see it was far too late. His legs were blown off.

"What happened here?" asked Auron quietly but urgently.

"It....it was....huge.....like....giant spider.......shooting fireballs " the mans head lolled to one side as the life left him. Auron scowled.

"Yuna, send him."

As Yuna began the morbidly beautiful dance, Tidus and Wakka continued the search for life.

"What did he mean by commas?" Wakka wondered aloud.

"Maybe he meant comets." suggested Tidus.

"Good idea. Where you think it's from?" asked Wakka absently as he picked his way through another ruined home, intent on the ground.

"Does it really matter?" Tidus responded, casually following him. "Fiend kills town, we kill fiend. Nothing to it."

"We have decided this is not one of Yevon's machina." announced Auron, causing Tidus to jump a few feet in the air.

"Hey, don't sneak up on people like that!"

"What you mean, not one of Yevon's machina?" asked Wakka, scratching his head. "That mean the Al-Bhed declared war on the rest of Spira?"

"No!" said Rikku indignantly. "Ya see, the biggest machina around are those machina shaped like giant people the Church of Yevon uses. And they're obviously not temple sized."

"Obviously. Where's this going?"

"You'll see. All the machina the Yevonites have are artifacts from the Zanarkand-Bevelle war. they can't build any more, they don't have the materials. And neither do the Al-Bhed. Sooo someone we don't know must be making machina." concluded Rikku, voice trailing off slightly seeing the thoughtful expressions of her companions.

"I think," said Yuna, breaking the silence that followed. "That we should hunt down whoever did this and make them pay."

"Um, yeah, Yunie, but how are we gonna find them?" squeaked Rikku from her perch on a burned black rock.

"We'll figure out where they're going next and ambush them there."

"You sure you want to do that?" called a bemused voice from behind them. Auron turned, whipping out his sword. Wakka brought up his ball, ready to throw. Tidus raised his sword too quickly, lost his grip, and dropped it with a loud clang.

The speaker was a tall, wiry built youth crouching on a piece of rubble. As the party turned towards him he rose and unhurriedly climbed down from his perch.

"Who are you?" Auron growled threateningly.

"Ya man, why you sneaking up on us?"

"Jeeze guys, chill a little. I ain't gonna hurt you." the youth grinned. "Not much anyway. Name's Cloud."

"I am Yuna."

"I figured. Lemme guess, the guy with big blade's Auron, ballman's Wakka, bondage babe is Lulu, little mouse is Rikku, and that blond punk wetting his pants over there is Tidus." Cloud said, grin replaced by one of those I'm-just-messing-with-you smiles.

"So how did you get here?" asked Auron urgently, not amused. "And how do you know who did this?"

"I walked. As for how I know the guy who did this....that might take a while. Too bad their aren't any chairs here. My home is nearby, let's go there."

And with that Cloud walked off into the forest.

"Whatcha think of him, eh?" asked Wakka.

"If he can take us to the person responsible for this, I say we follow him." said Yuna, and walked quickly after Cloud, followed by Tidus. The rest glanced at each other, than followed.

What they found they did not expect.


	2. Memories

Memories

Jerry is my cat, FYI.

It was huge. Tall as a temple, yet despite its massive size its spiderlike body radiated a sense of refinement. It's arms were straight out before it, gun barrels pointing out towards the horizon. Its cold metal face contained only one eye, ominously glowing a deep red. On its back lay a bundle of tubes welded together into a rocket launcher and next to it a single, sleek, shining, gun.

"What the...?" breathed Tidus, awe and confusion etched in his face.

"I thought you said your home was near here." Auron said suspiciously.

"This is my home." answered Cloud as he bounded up one of the machines legs.

"He's the one who destroyed the village!" yelled Yuna. Cloud turned, face devoid of emotion, Auron brought up his sword, Tidus jumped in front of Yuna, and Wakka hurled his ball at Cloud. Cloud ducked and the ball bounced off the cold machine.

"Whoa! That was uncalled for mister!" yelled Cloud, crouching with his hands covering his head.

"So was the destruction of Kilika." retorted Yuna harshly.

"Which I didn't do. Well, most of it anyway."

Auron tensed.

"You wanna hear the truth or not?" Cloud asked in exasperation.

Wakka and Auron exchanged looks, Rikku and Lulu muttered to each other, and Yuna whispered to Tidus.

"Fine." shouted Tidus up to Cloud. "But any tricks and you're dead."

"I'd like to see you try." smiled Cloud, half in relief, half in amusement, as he ducked into the machina and a minute later appeared with cushions. "Take a seat."

"Ok, talk." growled Auron when everyone was seated.

"Right. So, if you guys are as smart as I think you are, y'all figured I'm not from here already, right?"

A circle of nods.

"I come from another world."

Murmurs.

"My home was called Earth. After centuries of war, we humans trashed the surface and had to migrate underground. This lead to us getting taken over by the controller and the corporations."

"What are those?" asked Rikku.

"Best way to describe corporations are a few dicks getting rich off everyone else. The controller was a sentient computer the corporations worked for."

Blank looks. Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"You dunno what computers are?" heads were shaken. "They're basically machina that store info, but this one could think for itself."

"Why?" asked Rikku, obviously interested by new machina.

"It was made that way, supposedly to protect humanity from itself, but those things never work out. After being trapped underground for a couple hundred years, some of people got a wee little bit sick of the controller keeping us there. Eventually the controller was killed by a group of mercenaries including me and the man who destroyed Kilika."

Gasps.

"You worked with him?" asked Yuna in horror.

"Uh-huh. Us Ravens value psychotic partners because they know they'll never hesitate when they're watching your back. Occasionally you get the purity types that refuse to work with 'em, but they don't last too long."

"This is how you justify working with a mass murderer?" asked Yuna, voice trembling with rage.

"Yeah. 'Course, I'm not all that innocent either, so I can't call him evil."

"Maybe we should kill you too." Yuna hissed. "And make you pay for whatever you did."

The venom in her voice surprised everyone except for Cloud, who became very somber for a moment.

"Little late for that. I've been paying for a looooooooooooong time."

His casual manner returned, although Yuna continued looking daggers at him.

"How did you get here, though?" asked Auron, hoping to avoid a battle with Cloud's machina.

"I'm getting to that. Basically, once the controller died people headed up to the surface. They found something really creepy up there. Really, really creepy. But that is a tale for after dinner. Who wants pizza?"

More blank looks. Cloud grinned.

"You guys'll love this. trust me." with that he entered the machina to "pizza," whatever that was.

Everyone looked at each other, unwilling to speak about their odd host or Yuna's burning hatred for him. Finally Wakka broke the silence.

"You think we can trust him?"

"He does seem sincere, even if he is very eccentric." Lulu responded after an awkward pause.

"I don't think he can be trusted."

"We all know what you think, Yuna." Cloud called, amused, from inside the machine.

"How can he hear us?" Tidus asked nervously.

"My secret, man." Cloud answered.

Several minutes later Cloud returned, carrying a tray and accompanied by an orange and white house cat. "Pizza" turned out to be a delicous combination of hot cheese and hard bread. After Cloud took the first bite to prove his good will, everyone bit in. One bite led to another, and soon the whole thing was gone.

"You have anymore of this?" asked Tidus, mellowed by the good food.

"Nah man."

"What's kitty's name?" asked Rikku as she snuggled with furry figure.

"Jerry." Cloud smiled, glad Jerry was enjoying himself when Cloud wasn't.

"So," said Auron, who apparently never loosened up. "Your story."

Cloud yawned theatrically.

"Yeah, that. Well, on the surface we found a city. A very, very, very, very, very big city."

"What's so scary about that?" asked Rikku.

"Well, humans had only been underground for about a thousand years, right? So here we have a city that looks like it was built _ten_ thousand years but we've never seen it before. Did I mention the technology in this cities defense alone was beyond ours by about another thousand years?"

"So basically a city magically appeared while you were underground, ya?" Wakka summarized.

"Pretty much. Those corporations I mentioned earlier moved to the surface along with everyone else and they spent one hell of a lot of money trying to get in. Hired mercs, built automated infantry, you name it. Nothing made it close."

Cloud grinned, as if a long forgotten memory had suddenly returned to him.

"What's all this got to do with you being here?" asked Auron.

"I said this would be a long story, didn't I?"

"Yes, but this is ridiculous. It has been an hour and we are no closer to knowing where you come from." From anyone else this might have sounded like whining, but from Auron it was an ultimatum. Cloud sighed.

"Ok. Three years and several thousand deaths later, me and the guy who blew Kilika, whose name is Slammer by the way, finally make it into the city. Hurt like hell and then some. One of the things we found up in there was a portal which brought us here. And that's more or less how this all started."

"Started?" Wakka asked worriedly.

"Kilika was just the beginning. The bodies will be piled high before the end."

Auron scowled. Tidus held Yuna tight, exchanging nervous looks with Wakka. Rikku was just plain scared. Lulu alone remained untouched.

"Well," said Auron, drawing his sword. The firelight flicked on his glasses and on his blade, casting an illusion of demonic possession. "There's only one way to solve this then."

The party all stared at him, unsure, but Cloud nodded in understanding.

"Not yet." he murmured, glancing around him at the shadowy forms of Yuna and company, before his eyes returned to Auron's blade.

"You are right." Auron agreed. A silent accord was reached. "When this ends your life is forfeit."

Cloud shrugged again and walked into the darknesses to his machine, followed reluctantly by Jerry. _I wonder if Rikku misses him as much as he misses her,_ he wondered.

"You just let him go?!" Yuna asked in disbelief as engines fired up, illuminating the clear in pale blue flame. Auron nodded, staring up as Spiderman lifted off and vanished into the night sky.

A cool wind flitted through the trees around them, tickling their senses. Yuna let out a shriek of rage and collapsed sobbing on Tidus shoulder. An uncaring moon watched it all, unmoved by the troubles of man.


	3. Hell

Hell

Cloud flew over the darkened waves, mind buzzing.

Have I wiped out an entire race?

No, Slammer must've landed first.

But I didn't see the signature scorch marks.

I am not killer.

Scum.

I didn't do it. This isn't like last time.

Oh, but last time you enjoyed it didn't you? Loved the smell of roasting flesh, the sight of families bleeding and dying, children-

NO!

Admit it, you had fun. It was all a game, you said so yourself.

I.... I.... I didn't know, OK? He lied to us. He manipulated-

Below Cloud, Besaid was burning. And at the center of it stood a giant, destroying all that stood before it.

"SLAMMER!"

Cloud swooped out of the darkness, a dark dragon spewing fire. Shell after shell from his bazooka arms crashed into the iron giant, but the blossoming explosions barely dented AC Castle's thick armor. Cloud landed with a sickening crash across from Slammer, scowling.

"So you survived the fall, huh. I didn't think you were tough enough." said Slammer, voice like thunder, greeting him with a grenade.

"Well, you don't know me all that well now do you, bitch?" Cloud sidestepped the attack with infuriating ease.

"Evidently not." Another grenade lit the shadows with its cold luminescence.

AC Castle was heavily armored humanoid packing an oversized grenade launcher on one arm and a decorated flamethrower on the other. The back carried a vicious chain gun and large rockets. In the brightly lit arena back on Earth Castle had only been slightly intimidating. Now it was terrifyingly demonic.

Cloud flicked a switch as he boosted back out of the ruins of Besaid into the shadows beyond. Music flooded his mind, darkness consumed his soul.

_Dead I am the one_

_Exterminating son_

_Slipping through the trees_

_Strangling the breeze_

_Dead I am the sky_

_Watching angels cry_

_While they slowly turn_

_Conquering the wurm_

_Dig through the ditches,_

_Burn through the witches_

_I slam in the back of my_

_Dragula_

Slammer dropped Castle into a low crouch as his chain gun came alive. Cloud circled him, surprisingly fast for all his extra appendages, strafing Slammer from behind with his "webs," spread bazooka shells. Before Slammer could recover he circled again and launched more webs in an attempt to keep his opponent off balance. This didn't phase Slammer at all, however, who just brought the chain gun to bear on Cloud, an almost continuous stream of led burning through Spiderman's armor like a pack of rabid rats chewing through a wood door.

"I win. As usual." Slammers smug tone made Cloud's skin crawl.

"You sure 'bout that?" Cloud punctuated the remark by launching a massive wave of rockets blindly towards his gloating foe. When the smoke cleared, AC Castle closely resembled the crater-covered surface of the moon, and the chain gun and flamethrower bearing left arm lay melting among the ashes of Besaid.

Slammer howled in rage and boosted at Spiderman like a suicidal demon, armor all aglow as grenades and rockets issued forth from his remaining weapons. Now, it is a typical human response to shows of overwhelming force to fall or flee. Cloud was a typical human, and opted for the latter means of survival. As the mad giant drew near, he boosted his AC forwards and upwards, hoping Slammer would charge directly beneath him. Unfortunately for Cloud, precisely at this moment he was struck by several high velocity explosives, and found himself falling ungracefully to earth. Slammer relented in his assault and towered menacingly over the now defunct Spiderman where it lay embedded in the superheated soil.

"Good game?" Cloud asked casually, voice not betraying a trace of the anxiety devouring his guts.

"I think not." came the arrogant reply. With that Slammer ripped off Clouds remaining functional weapons, collected the remains of his own, and disappeared into the night, leaving Cloud to brood on his defeat.


End file.
